“Here, catch this,” Dave heaved the giant rock at my feet.
I lept back and swore. Loudly. 
In the space where I had been standing, moments ago, was a decent sized rock….only it wasnt a rock. 
“That’s from King Kong,” Dave smiled
“What?” I said weakly, clearly still startled at why this man was throwing things at me.
“I made that for the King Kong movie.”
“Ooooooh,” I said as understanding dawned. “Cool cool cool! Can I play with it?”

*

I had been spending the afternoon with Dave Goodin, a sculptor on Stewart Island specialising in nephrite jade. His credits (of which there are many) include working on Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings films and King Kong. What he had just thrown at me was a mock boulder that had featured in the film about the giant ape. 

A few hours before The Rock Incident, I was bouncing along the Foveaux Strait from Invercargill to Stewart Island. My fellow Brits-Abroad-in-Gisborne Amar and Kat had warned me about this notoriously choppy ferry journey. Unfortunately for all involved parties, it was a warning that I only remembered when I tried to go for a wee on the ferry. Lesson learned. Once the boat landed on the island, I headed to Dave’s studio – a giant corrugated iron structure perched on the waterfront. It was like stepping into another person’s imagination. Every surface available was covered in sculptures, sketches and tools. Wings and horns and talons and feathers hung from the rafters, and I spotted an Alan Lee sketch of Helms Deep tucked away in the corner. Even at first glance, i could tell that this was a place for a master at work. He was mild mannered and softly spoken, tucked away beneath a beanie hat and beard which belied his creative genius.

What followed were some lovely hours of using various machines and hand-held tools under Dave’s watchful eye. It was great to be doing something practical and creative. The last thing that I can remember making was a piñata for my housemate’s birthday a few months earlier – using a papier mâché method that I’m sure I learnt on Blue Peter. The jagged piece of slightly translucent pale green jade that I was working with, slowly but surely edged towards a Toki (Adze)- a symbol of strength and determination in times of adversity.

My experience that afternoon was removed from the honour of being gifted a Pounamu (greenstone) talisman, but the process of carving the Toki symbol was a captivating insight into the craft and spiritual significance of jade in Maori culture. The honour here was to be on Stewart Island and to be working with Dave. I hung onto every word that he had to say about his career and he didn’t seem to mind my seemingly endless line of questions about his work on Fangorn Forest. He seemed equally interested in my own line of work which was pretty flattering. 

I emerged from Dave Goodin’s studio a little before 3pm clutching my new greenstone Toki and beaming. It really was a great afternoon. Part of me couldn’t quite believe that I was there. I’d been talking about visiting Stewart Island for such a long time – to finally be there at the bottom of the world and to get to talk with someone who had worked on one of my favourite film series….it was pretty cool! 

Buoyed by the success of that afternoon with Dave, I’m definitely more keen for some hand-on creative stuff. I don’t imagine that I’ll have the opportunity to do any carving any time soon, but I wouldn’t be averse to making a papier mâché boulder or two…